SUBCULTURE

Subculture is a
culture-within-a-culture. Subculture is the distinct norms, values and behavior of particular groups
located within society. The concept of subculture implies some degree of group
self-sufficiency such that individuals may interact, find employment, recreation, friends
and mates within the group.

Society is heterogeneous and
culture is not spread out evenly. It is from here that idea of subculture and subsociety
emerge. Subcultures are linked to the deviant behavior
literature and some sociologists have focused on subsociety to avoid the culture issue
altogether. Subculture has often been treated as synonymous with the population
comprising the subsociety.

Subculture has been examined
without sufficient concern for delineating the groups of individuals serving as its
referent.

The subcultural system is
pictured as homogeneous, static and closed.

Subculture is depicted as
consisting in its entirety of values, norms and central themes.

Cohens theory follows the
well-known adage my child went wrong by hanging out with the wrong crowd. This
wrong crowd is the center of Cohens theory; phenomena called the delinquent
subculture.

A subculture is a group of
people within a society that share a set of ideas and ways of doing things that differs
from the ways of dominant society. The subculture gives a sense of belonging and solutions
to problems.

Cohen felt the delinquent subculture formed in order to provide a solution to the problem
of social status (or lack of status) for lower class youth
imbibing lower class culture - respect in the
eyes of ones fellows becomes very important.

THE INMATE SUBCULTURE IN
DUTCH PRISONS
M. GRAPENDAAL, Research and Documentation Centre Ministry of Justice The Netherlands
The British Journal of Criminology 30:341-357 (1990) This article is a shortened version
of the first Dutch research into the inmate subculture in Dutch prisons. The contents of
this subculture are described, as is the initiation process by which new prisoners become
members of the prison community. Subcultural variations are traced to certain differences
in prison regimes.

Marijuana Argot As Subculture Threads - Social Constructions by Users in New
York City
Bruce D. Johnson, Flutura Bardhi, Stephen J. Sifaneck and Eloise Dunlap
National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. - British Journal of Criminology 2006
Marijuana-related argot provides socially constructed ways of talking, thinking,
expressing, communicating and interacting among marijuana users and distributors. Such
argot also provides the verbal threads by which the marijuana subculture integrates use
practices among diverse individuals, groups and regions. An ethnographic study of blunt
and marijuana users in New York City identified 180 argot words that are commonly used to
maintain the subculture secrecy. Such argot constitutes the subculture threads connecting
and linking diverse user groups, networks and markets. These words convey the dynamic
expressiveness involved in shared consumption and as a comprehensive communication system
among subculture participants. Argot terms are created and spread by subculture
participants. Argot also delineates important distinctions within and helps organize how
the marijuana subculture structures use practices, networks and markets. Argot maintains
boundaries with other drug subcultures. The dynamic use of argot constitutes a
communication system widely understood among marijuana subculture participants, yet is
largely hidden from mainstream culture.

Slang Usage in the Addict Subculture
Paul F. Cromwell, JR., Sam Houston State University, Department of Sociology, San Antonio
College Juvenile Probation Officer, Houston, Tex.
The drug addict lives in a unique world, differing even in its language, a new jargon.
Possibly nothing more clearly illustrates the fact that drug addiction has cultural
components than the special communication among its members. This special argot plays an
important role in the society of the drug user by pro viding in-group cohesion and
communication. Crime & Delinquency, Vol. 16, No. 1, 75-78 (1970). Until the
advent of large numbers of juveniles into the outer fringes of the addict subculture,
little was known of this unique language except by police and persons specializing in the
rehabil itation of the addict.

A Subculture of Parasuicide?
Stephen D. Platt, Royal Edinburgh Hospital
Human Relations, Vol. 38, No. 4, 257-297 (1985)
The purpose of this study was to devise an empirical test of the hypothesis that
geographical areas with high parasuicide rates (HRAs) are characterized by a distinctive
subculture which is expected to facilitate parasuicidal behavior to a considerable degree.
A secondary hypothesis states that cultural differences ("cultural distance")
between parasuicides and the general population will be relatively more pronounced in
areas with low parasuicide rates (LRAs) than in HRAs. The HRA subculture is also
significantly less understanding of parasuicide, and considers it to be more immoral and
sanctionable than the dominant LRA culture.

Sports Within the Black Subculture: A Matter of Social Class or a Distinctive
Subculture?
Elmer Spreitzer, Eldon E. Snyder, Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University,
Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Vol. 14, No. 1, 48-58 (1990)
This research compares the relative prominence of sports within the black and white
subcultures. The focus is on variability among individuals in sports involvement as
operationally defined by a seven- item index of passive sports participation. Based on
multiple regression analysis of variance, and
analysis of covariance, the greater extent of sports involvement among blacks remained
evident after controlling for age, education, income, and size of city. We interpret these
findings as reflective of a distinctive subculture as contrasted with a culture of poverty phenomenon as discussed by
Rudman (1986) in his study of the sports mystique within the black subculture.

The Inmate Subculture in Jails
JAMES GAROFALO, RICHARD D. CLARK, State University of New York at Albany
Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 12, No. 4, 415-434 (1985)
There is a long line of prison research addressing the nature and correlates of the inmate subculture, the adherence of inmates to a
set of norms that reflect opposition to institutional rules and staff. This article
presents preliminary findings on variability in adherence to inmate norms among the
populations of three local jailsenvironments that are characterized by shorter stays
and more rapid inmate turnover than are prisons. The findings suggest that positive
orientations toward inmate subcultural norms in jail settings are mostly attributable to
experienced inmates who are already familiar with the norms when they enter the jail and
who readapt to the norms after determining that they will not be gaining their freedom
immediately.

Male transsexuals in the homosexual subculture - EM Levine
Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:1318-1321
The author describes 20 male transsexuals who differ from most discussed in professional
studies and from those in media portrayals in that they live in the male homosexual
subculture. Furthermore, interviews with these individuals indicated that transsexuals are
no more sexually or socially homogeneous than heterosexuals or homosexuals. In general,
these men entered the homosexual subculture in their teens; they knew they were not
heterosexual and therefore assumed they must be homosexual.

Opportunity, Subculture and the Economic Performance of Urban Ethnic Groups
Martin T. Katzman, This essay is the outgrowth of a study of ethnic groups undertaken with
Martin Levin, University of California,
Harvard University Graduate School of Education Cambridge, Mass. 021381
American Journal of Economics and Sociology 28 (4), 351366.
Abstract. An attempt is made to account for age-specific differences in economic
performance among 14 ethnic groups living in the nation's nine largest metropolitan areas,
by regression analysis of 1950 U.S. Census data. A large proportion of the variance in
occupational structure, income, unemployment, and labor force status is accounted for by
variations in urban opportunities, relative group size and the members' educational
attainment. These residual ethnic influences as well as ethnic differences in marital,
educational, and labor force status suggest that differences in ethnic subculture have
important economic consequences.

Gary Alan Fine & Sherryl Kleinman: Rethinking Subculture: An Interactionist
Analysis
The American Journal of Sociology, Vol 85, No 1 (July 1979), 1-20.
Abstract: Subculture, despite the term's wide usage in sociology, has not proved to be a
very satisfactory explanatory concept. Several problems in previous subculture research
are discussed: (1) the confusion between subculture and subsociety, (2) the lack of a
meaningful referent for subcultures, (3) the homogeneity and stasis associated with the
concept, and (4) the emphasis on defining subcultures in terms of values and central
themes. It is argued that for the subculture construct to be of maximal usefulness it
needs to be linked to processes of interaction. Subculture is re-conceptualized in terms
of cultural spread occurring through an interlocking group network characterized by
multiple group membership, weak ties, structural roles conducive to information spread
between groups, and media diffusion. Identification with the referent group serves to
motivate the potential member to adopt the artifacts, behaviors, norms, and values
characteristic of the subculture. Youth subcultures are presented as illustrations of
these processes operate.